Hats off to Herald winner’s cracking Easter creation

The Herald’s Mad Hatter’s Easter competition in aid of a charity helping sufferers of Crohn’s disease has been a huge success.

Hats off to everyone who took part - and we had some truly eggscellent entries!

But the judges decision was unanimous. The overall winner had to be grandmother Elizabeth Walker of Kirkintilloch.

Her amazing Easter bonnet creation, fashioned by her grandson Daniel Livingston (27), scooped the trophy and first prize of an afternoon tea for two at the luxury Boclair House Hotel in Bearsden.

Receiving her trophy from Herald reporter Liz Gallacher, Elizabeth said: “I would like to say a big thank you to my very talented grandson.

“He is very creative. I asked him to make me a hat and he said he would do it.”

Elizabeth says she intends to share her prize with Daniel who will accompany her to Boclair House Hotel.

She added: “This was a fantastic competition for a great cause.

“I am an avid reader of the Herald. I buy it every week and I am so delighted to win this”.

The Mad Hatter’s competition, in conjunction with a Great Gatsby ball at Boclair House Hotel, where Herald winners Lesley and Ewan Shannon, also from Kirkintilloch, danced the night away, raised the impressive sum of £4,205 for Glasgow-based charity Cure Crohn’s Colitis.

The charity gives 100 per cent of all donations to medical research.

The rates of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, two inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), are rocketing in Scotland. One in 200 people are affected and IBD is mainly diagnosed in children and young people. It is a debilitating, life-long condition causing severe abdominal pain, sickness, extreme fatigue and diarrhea.

There is no cure and Scotland now has one of the highest rates of IBD in the world. Victims are also at risk of developing bowel cancer.

Roy Provan, Chair of Cure Crohn’s Colitis, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the amount raised by the two events.

“We would like to say a huge thank you to the Kirkintilloch Herald, Boclair House Hotel and all the entrants.

“The winning hat is just fabulous!”

He added: “Every single penny will go towards medical research to help find a cure for these two devastating diseases.”

Runners-up in the adults section were Amy Douglas of Bearsden and Craig Valentine from Glasgow.

The winners in the children’s section will be announced in next week’s paper.

For more on the charity, visit www.curecrohnscolitis.org or like its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CureCrohnsColitis/.